I beg to differ. Most port cities are extremely commercial and do NOT represent well the country you are coming to. Unless you have a day or two to go outside of the port city (like Phil who went caving in Belize), you are not seeing how people really live in normal, not made for tourists, cities. Nassau is the best example of what I mean. It's an awful place. Cozumel is nice, but it was built for tourists and every Mexican who lives there works in the tourist industry. I'm sure some ports are better than others, though. I wouldn't mind docking in Marseille, for example.

I'm with you.  The only time it wasn't true was the cruise to Bermuda because we were docked there the entire week.  Otherwise - a day or two at a port is not the way to see a foreign country.   And some of the ports are owned by the cruise line, so you get off and are basically still "taking a cruise".     See Labadee (registered trademark), Haiti:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labadee

Maybe the non-Caribbean cruises are different, but Cozumel, Bahamas etc.  Wasn't my thing.  Not to mention the horrible sea sickness I had the entire time lol

On the question of price, we went for 7 days on Celebrity in January out of Miami.  With travel agent incentives and such, I think it ended up being about $1600.  That didn't include airfare.  Our experience is that Celebrity does NOT cater to families, but to the "older" set.  We've sailed probably 5 or 6 times on Celebrity and always enjoyed it.  We even had the same stateroom both times we were on the Century. What are the odds?  I said I was going to leave gum under the chair to see if it happened again.

Yeah, I said Celebrity but I meant Carnival.  Ooppss.

I've never been on a cruise, have never been tempted to go on one, and don't expect to ever do so. I also rarely vacation in big cities, preferring small towns and villages where I stay in family run inns and B&Bs. I also prefer the mountains to the shore, and I've seen very few cruises with an itinerary in the mountains.

I've never been on a cruise, have never been tempted to go on one, and don't expect to ever do so. I also rarely vacation in big cities, preferring small towns and villages where I stay in family run inns and B&Bs. I also prefer the mountains to the shore, and I've seen very few cruises with an itinerary in the mountains.

Not unless you're sailing on the Ark.

I thought I would hate cruises because I also like to explore and see new things, but we went on one with my family a few years back and it was a good time (although NOT a good way to see any of the places we docked).  We were a fairly big family group celebrating my parents' 40th anniversary.  My mom isn't very mobile and doesn't have the energy to do much.  Plus, I swear half of non-cruise vacations are spent planning where and when we're going to eat.  Cruising means you don't have to worry about any of that.  Everybody did their thing during the day, then we met up for dinner.  It worked for our group.

 

Most of the Alaskan ones probably have that option, given that some mountains almost meet the water.

A co-worker came back from 2 weeks on an Alaskan cruise and loved it. I would love to cruise the Maritimes without stopping in Maine twice which I can do from home.

 

Something like that sounds like a good cruise option - the goal is to be with family vs. "seeing the sights" sort of thing.

Agreed 100%. But an all-inclusive could be another option for a large group. It allows the more adventurous to go explore during the day (rent a car, or join an organized tour) and those who prefer to stay on the grounds of the hotel are catered to all day. Everyone gets together at night. And booze is included in the price!  Not my favorite way of traveling, but one I've done when my son was younger, or when SO and I just wanted to get some sun for a few days (but we always rented a car for more freedom).